New U.S. women’s soccer coach Emma Hayes dropped her 18-player Olympic roster on Wednesday, and a familiar name was missing.
But for the 19,000 fans that packed into Allianz Field to watch the team beat South Korea in early June, some of the roster’s surprises were foreshadowed in the team’s Minnesota performance. The United States’ 3-0 win in St. Paul was just Hayes’ second game in charge after leaving her role coaching the Chelsea women’s team.
Two-time World Cup champion Alex Morgan missed her first major international tournament roster since 2008. The team’s most veteran player has struggled with recent injury and faced a ten-match scoring drought.
Hayes praised Morgan as “an amazing player and human” but “wanted to go in another direction,” noting that a small Olympic roster running through a full tournament just 17 days long means players need to be more versatile in what positions they can play.
At Allianz, the soon-to-be 35-year-old forward started the match but was substituted out after an hour. The trio of forwards that came on the field for the last 30 minutes — Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith — overlapped and interchanged positions in a style Hayes praised post-match for its chemistry. It’s also a style Morgan has less often played.
After announcing the roster, Hayes said that Swanson has a “natural telepathy” with Smith, who scored the second U.S. goal against South Korea.
Veteran player Crystal Dunn was included on the Olympic roster as a forward after years of playing defense for the national team. The Minnesota crowd got a taste of this, too, with Dunn starting up top for the first time since 2017 and scoring her first national team goal since 2018. She shifted to the back line in St. Paul, showcasing the versatility Hayes prioritized.
“At the end of day, that’s what it’s about,” Dunn said after the South Korea match. “Being adaptable. … It’s an honor to really be able to see the pitch from so many different angles.”
